Bahaipedia:Help desk

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Why is the date wrong on the home page?

Today, I stumbled upon Bahaikipedia when doing a Baha'i related web search.

I noticed something strange though -- the date and time as I am writing this is Wednesday, March 14th, 2018 at 00:43AM. However the home page shows a date of "Today's date: February 8, 2018 • 2 Mulk, 174 BE". I thought this would be the best place to make note of the discrepancy....

Hopefully whomever maintains the page will see this and correct the error.

Regards,

Philip

Thank you Philip. That seems to be a page cache problem. Logging in and visiting the main page will show you the correct date. I will look into a fix for that. David (talk) 10:58, 14 March 2018 (PDT)

accounts

Some years back, I inadvertently created two accounts here. How do I eliminate or cancel one of them?

You won't be able to. You can just ignore the one you don't want. If the username contains private information you want hidden I can change the username to something else. David (talk) 19:49, 20 November 2020 (PST)

Cannot create an account

Dear friends,

Whilst attempting to create an account, I received the message: "Error 503 Service unavailable"

I've tried various times on multiple browsers to no avail.

Please let me know when this is fixed. (or alternatively what would cause the error)

Thank you.

Warmest regards, William

Hi William, thanks for the heads-up. It should be resolved now!

API for "Search Bahaipedia" box?

Hi I am experimenting with a generative chatbot that answers questions about the Faith. The bot is based on BlenderBot2 (See this article https://ai.facebook.com/blog/blender-bot-2-an-open-source-chatbot-that-builds-long-term-memory-and-searches-the-internet) It has a model of Q&A info in its stored corpus (which I have also trained with some Baha'i Q&A too), but it also does internet searches when there is inadequate info in the stored corpus. There is an API that does google searches that I am using (https://python-googlesearch.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html#googlesearch.lucky ) for the internet search capability, but I would prefer the search only go to Baha'i sources. Also, Google limits the number of queries it allows in an unknown way. So I was wondering if there is an API that will let me search Bahaipedia as if I was using the "Search Bahaipedia" box on a Bahaipedia page. I can be contacted at [redacted]@gmail.com Regards -Steve Scotti

That's great, I've set you an email. For anyone else who would like an answer there is a documentation page here that can be consulted: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/API:Search David (talk) 22:01, 4 August 2021 (PDT)

Creating a "stub"

Hi folks! Just wondering what the general attitude is toward creating placeholder-type articles for notable historical Bahá’ís who don't yet have a Bahaipedia page? I'm thinking a stub with basic information - name, dates, one or two sentences and one or two references - which can be expanded upon in the future by myself or (hopefully) others. Or is it preferred to wait until a full article can be created? Thanks! - Territorygal (talk) 12:37, 17 November 2021 (PST)

That's totally OK! I've made a bunch of these myself. Feel free to create stubs for different articles and mark them as such. As well, if you want to share resources that could help others contribute, you can post links on the article's talk page. Dragfyre (talk) 18:19, 17 November 2021 (PST)

Thanks very much! - Territorygal (talk) 22:29, 17 November 2021 (PST)

Wrong photograph for Hidayatullah Sohrab

Hello there

I am the granddaughter of Hidayatullah Sohrab and today I noticed that a page has been created for him. Unfortunately the photograph used is not correct.

I have logged in and tried to change the photo but I was unable to do so. Would you please give me some instructions as to how this can be done. Alternatively inform the creator of this page of this error. I can provide the correct photo for him if necessary.

Thank you Zohreh Faizi

Hi Zohreh,

Thank you very much for alerting us to this error, and also for attempting to fix it yourself, that's very helpful. I have removed the image, and if you can point us to an accurate one that would be great. I traced the file which used to be there to an issue of World Order magazine (here for reference). All the best, David (talk) 00:02, 25 April 2022 (PDT)

Inquiry about updates to South Africa page on Bahaipedia

Dear Administrator of Bahaipedia,

Greetings from the Secretariat of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of South Africa.

We are writing to inquire about the current process for updating the South Africa page on Bahaipedia. Historically, we understand that Dr. Michael Walker was responsible for maintaining this page, but since his passing, we are unsure who has taken on this important task.

The National Spiritual Assembly, is keen to ensure that the information about the Bahá'í community in South Africa remains accurate and up-to-date. We would greatly appreciate any information you could provide regarding:

1. Who is currently responsible for updating the South Africa page on Bahaipedia? 2. What is the process for submitting updates or corrections to the page? 3. How can the National Spiritual Assembly, contribute to maintaining the accuracy of the information?

We look forward to your response and to potentially collaborating on keeping the Bahaipedia page for South Africa current and informative.

Thank you for your time and assistance in this matter.

Warmest Bahá'í greetings,

Eric Michot Senior Administrator [redacted for privacy]

Dear Mr. Michot,

Thank you for your inquiry! First of all, my condolences on the passing of Dr. Walker. Although I'm not technically the site administrator, I am a long-time contributor to the site and I thought I would try and point you in the right direction.

I'm not aware of anyone who is assigned to keep any Bahaipedia article up to date. Updates to different pages are generally made by individual contributors using whatever spare time they have. You, or someone else, can create an account and start editing any page at any time. We do recommend that those who wish to contribute take a look through the site's help section to help them learn how the site works, how to update pages, and what policies apply to the site.

If the National Spiritual Assembly is open to it, they may wish to nominate one or two volunteers whose job it would be to update key pages, ensure the accuracy of information, and even develop new content. As an example of the latter, we do have an article on William Masehla which could be updated for historical interest; articles about other well-known Baha'is could also be created.

Please feel free to reach out with further questions! User:David is the site administrator and I believe he has communicated with different national institutions before about helping support their efforts, both in developing Bahaipedia articles and in archiving important historical materials on bahai.works.

Best wishes and warmest greetings,

Dragfyre (talk) 17:14, 25 June 2024 (+08)

Dear Dragfyre,

Thank you for your thoughtful and informative response regarding our inquiry about the Bahaipedia pages related to South Africa. We appreciate your condolences for Dr. Walker and your efforts to provide us with comprehensive information.

Your explanation of how Bahaipedia operates is very helpful. We now understand that there isn't a specific person assigned to update articles, but rather it's a collaborative effort by individual contributors. This insight is valuable as we consider how to proceed.

We're grateful for your suggestion about nominating volunteers to update key pages and develop new content. This is an excellent idea that should be explored further. The example you provided about the article on William Masehla is particularly interesting, and we see the potential for creating articles about other notable Bahá'ís from South Africa.

Your recommendation to review the site's help section is well-noted, thank you very much.

We appreciate your offer for further assistance and the mention of User:David's role as site administrator, who has kindly been in touch with us as well.

Once again, thank you for your detailed response and your willingness to assist us in this matter.

Warm Bahá'í greetings, Eric

Ridvan

Ridvan is usually April 21st, 29th and May 2nd as I have been observing. Another Baha'i told me the dates change according to the calendar each year. What is the correct answer? °76.174.78.65 19:51, 30 April 2025 (EDT)Ca–

Hello, it changes each year, there is a table of dates here: https://bahai-library.com/pdf/uhj/uhj_bahai_dates_172-221.pdf and see the article Calendar and the sections before/after 2015 for more information. David (talk) 23:50, 1 May 2025 (EDT)

Hello (Anonymous)! You're both right, in a way. The answer revolves around a change in the way that the Bahá’í calendar is applied, announced by the Universal House of Justice in 2014 and newly applicable as of Naw-Rúz, 172 BE (2015). As David said, the change is recorded in our article on the calendar. Basically, the calendar used to be applied differently in Muslim countries and in the rest of the world, and for example, the dates of certain holy days (such as the birthdays of the Báb and of Bahá’u’lláh, which fall on adjacent days of the month of Muharram in the Islamic calendar) were celebrated at different times. To resolve this and allow the entire Bahá’í world to apply the calendar in the same way universally, the House of Justice essentially announced that the calendar would now be "unlocked" from both the Gregorian and Islamic calendars. This also allows for some of the specifications made by Bahá’u’lláh regarding the timing of Naw-Rúz to be put into practice. This, in turn, means that Naw-Rúz can fall on days other than March 21st as it once did; and since holy days are now defined according to the Bahá’í calendar rather than the Gregorian or Islamic calendars, it means that the date for this can shift, too, depending on the year and the date of Naw-Rúz, which is now calculated precisely using astronomical tables.

There's more on this on the official Baha'i website. Dragfyre (talk) 12:00, 2 May 2025 (+08)

New Account

I have tried several times to create an account without success. I enter the information requested and submit it, but simply get a blank page in response.108.243.124.40 18:35, 10 September 2025 (EDT)

Thank you very much for bringing this to my attention, the issue should be fixed now, let me know if you encounter any problems again. Sarah (talk) 19:49, 10 September 2025 (EDT)